Cool change for Christmas

Tim Barlass

There's one thing for sure - the weather isn't going to please everyone this Christmas. If you are planning seafood and salad on the beach, your needs are rather different to those planning a roast and all the trimmings indoors.

The skippers of the 77 boats racing towards Hobart on Boxing Day will almost certainly experience a variety of wind speeds and directions.

After a maximum of 28 on Sunday, temperatures are expected to peak on Monday, Christmas Eve, with a sunny morning, maximum temperature of 30 degrees with hot northeast to northwesterly winds. Christmas Day is expected to reach a maximum of 25 degrees with a southerly change expected.

Forecaster Peter Zmijewski at the Bureau of Meteorology said: "There is a chance of a shower or thunderstorm on Christmas morning but this chance will diminish in the afternoon.

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"On Boxing Day there will probably be a shower or two but the late afternoon should be mostly fine or partly cloudy."

The weather has been described as a 'dream forecast' for navigators of the super maxi boats in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Organisers are predicting that the race could start under spinnaker in a southerly wind on Boxing Day not seen since 2006. Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Michael Logan said the southerly would turn to the north-east and lighten on day two.

"This year we'll start with a headwind and there will be a lot of work to do once you get into day two," he said. "The winds will make for much faster downwind sailing."

If your Christmas cards have you thinking of a white Christmas, the chances of that in London seem unlikely. Betting firm William Hill have increased the odds from 3/1 to 4/1 predicting a 'wet and wild' Christmas.